Tire-building apparatus



D ec. 1, H. E. WANER TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS Filed June 21. 1928 2Sheets-Sheet i Dec. 1, 1931.

H. E. -WA NER TYIRE BUILDING APPARATUS Filed June 21, 1928 2Sheets-Shee.t 2

Patented Dec. 1, 1931 I UNITED STATES- I PATENT OFFIGE HARRY E. wanna,or AKRON, omo, ASSIGNOR '10 Tim 3. r. eoonmcn company, or

nnw you, 11. Y., A oonrona'non on NEW YORK TIRE-BUILDING- mm'rusApplication filed June 21, 1928. 1 mm 110. 287,109.

This invention relates to tire-building 'apparatus, and especially tomechanism for rolling down or compacting the constituent elements of atire during the manufacture thereof. The invention finds its primaryutility in the manufacture of pneumatic tire casings of the pulley-bandor drum-built type wherein it is especially useful for rolling down theheavy rubber tread slab of the tire and may to be used also upon thecarcass plies of rub-. v

berized fabric.

The foregoing operations heretofore-have been performed, so far as I amaware, either manually with a small hand-tool, or mechanically by meansof a cylindrical, power-actuated presser roll assembly comprisin aplurality of relatively thin, laterally a utting, rotatable discs, eachof which has a peripheral work-engagingportion which is yieldinglyconnected to its hub portion by a single, volute spring. The lattermechanism, while faster operating than the hand method, is objectionablebecause the presser roll engages the tire structure concurrentlythroughout a wide zone, with the result that air entrapped between thetire-plies is displaced circumferentially of the tire as the latter isrotated, and requires to be removed from the tire in a subsequentoperation. This is especially true where the bead-portions of the flattire-structure are of greater diameter than the adjacent side-wallportions, which is usually the case even with tires built on drumshaving sloping sides to accommodate said bead por- 3 tions.

The general object of this invention is to provide. improved apparatusfor rolling down and compacting the plies of a the structure andespecially. a tire band in substantially flat form. More specifically anob-' U ject is to provide apparatusof the character described hich willbe adapted to press the tire structure byprogression laterally thereofand thus to effect the removal of entrapped air transversely frombetween the tire-plies as the same are rolled down,

. Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a tire-buildmgma china and my improvedtire-buildmg apo paratus in operative association therewith.

improved presser roll and the work at the begining of an operativecycle, the Work being shown in section.

' Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the tire-building apparatus asviewedfrom' the right of Fig. 1, and the work, in section, engagedthereby.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

My invention comprises a loosely journaled and, highly elasti'c presserroller having a ylelding surface which is crowned or tapered, preferablyboth ways from its middle, so that when it is brought slowly intoengagementwith a-rotating article such as a flat band tire it willengage the same progressively from the middle of the tires tread portionto its lateral margins or bead portions. Thus the plies of the tire arepressed and compacted to insure good adhesion therebetween, andconcurrently any entrapped air within the tire structure is forcedlaterally and escapes at the margins of the plies.

Referring to the drawings, 10 is a tirebuilding machine from one side ofwhich extends a rotatable spindle 11 on which is mounted a segmental,collapsible, tire-build said apparatus generally being designated 14.

The apparatus 1 1 comprises a base-casting 15 formed with a pair ofupstanding j ournalbrackets 16, 16 in which is pivotally mounted aone-way fluid pressure cylinder 17 provided with a flexible supply anddischarge pipe 18.

The piston 19 of the fluid pressure cylinder 17 has its piston-rod 20connected to one end 26, the latter being pivotally secured at 27 to thebase-casting 15. A compression spring 28 is mounted uponthe plunger-rod25 between a nut 29 thereon and the up er face of a slotted lug 30extending rearwar ly from the base-casting 15, the plunger-rod25'exten-ding through the slot in said lug.

The arrangement is such that admission of pressure fluid to the cylinder17 raises its piston 19, to rock the shaft 22, at slow speed because ofthe resistance of the dash-pot 26. When the pressure fluid is exhaustedfrom the cylinder 17 the spring 28 reverses the operation and restoresthe piston 19 to inoperative position.

Arms 31, 31 are mounted at adjacent ends thereof upon the respective endportions of the rock-shaft 22 outside its journal-brackets 23, and eacharm has its free end formed with a guideway 32 for a slidable block 33,the upper end of said guideway being closed by a stop-plate 34. Thebottom face of the slidable block 33 is engaged by a screw 35 which isthreaded through a boss 36 formed on the arm 31, said screw beingprovided with a hand-wheel 37 for easy manipulation.

Supported from its ends by the slidable blocks 33 is a. non-rotatableshaft or spindle 39 upon which are journaled a plurality oflaterally-abutting discs 40, 40 of various out side diameters arrangedin descending series each way fromthe middle of the shaft to produce, ineffect, a crowned roll. By means of the screws 35 the blocks 33 may besuitably adjusted in their guideways to maintain the spindle 39 alwaysparallel to the axis of the drum 12. v

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5, each disc 40 comprises a hub portion 41 anda. normally concentric circumscribing ring-portion 42 which cis spacedfrom said hub portion and yieldingly connected therewith by a pluralityofvolute springs 43, 43. The latter are nar- 1 rower than the hub andring portions of the disc, and have their outer end portions positionedwithin a groove 44 in the inner periphery of the ring and looped aroundrespective rivets 45, 45 traversing said groove. The hub portion 41. ofthe disc is formed with a circumferential groove 46 in its outerperiphery and the inner ends of the springs 43 are secured in saidgroove bythe side-walls of the groove which are crimped uponthespring-ends.

The construction'of the disc is such that the ring portion 42 can moveradially with relation to the hub portion 41 while the entire structurerotates on the spindle 39., Thus collectively the discs provide atapered roll 'structure having a yielding surface which may be deformedlocally or throughout its length when forcibly brought into engagementwith the rotating tire 13. The assembled discs bear lightly against eachother so that there is but little friction as respective discs moverelatively to each other, and endplates 47, 47 are journaled on thespindle 39 at the end of the roll structure between the blocks 33 forholding the assembled discs in properly spaced relation and forpreventing lateral movement of the ring portions of the discs withrelation to their hub portions.

In the operation of the apparatus, the tire 13 is built upon the drum 12in the usual manner. When it is desired to utilize the compactingapparatus, either upon the fabric carcass plies or upon the completelyfabricated tire as shown, the operator causes the drum 12 to rotate andthen admits pressure fluid to the cylinder 17 which lifts the arms 31from their lowered inoperative position toward their position shown inFig. 1, the movement being relatively slow because of the resistanceprovided by the dash-pot 26.

As shown in Fig. 3, the presser roll comprising the assembled discsfirst engages the tire band 13 at its middle, and as the arms 31continue to rise, engage it progressively in each direction therefromtoward its lateral margins or bead portions until a complete transversezone of the tire is under pressure 'as shown in Fig. 4. The rotation ofthe tire frictionally causes the discs 40 to rotate on the spindle v39with the resultthat the tire is subjected to rolling pressure in acircumferential direction, which pressure is progressively applied tothe tire concurrently in each direction from its middle. The differentperipheral speeds of the discs incident to the different diameters ofthe several zones of the tire band and the different angular speeds ofthe discs incident to the different distances from their work contactingfaces to their journal are permitted by their rotation with relation toeach other upon their journal or spindle 39.

The apparatus effects a superior compacting of the tire-plies since anyair entrapped between its plies is progressively forced laterally by thepressure applied progressively in a lateral direction, the air escapingat the margins of the plies even though the bead portions of the tireare of greater outside diameter than the intermediate portions of thetire as'shown.

My invention is susceptible of modificatio and I do not wholly limit myclaims to the specific construction shown.

I claim:

1. Tire-building apparatus comprising a support for a pneumatic-tirestructure and, cooperatively associated therewith, a presserroll devicecomprising a roll structure having a fyielding surface-and taperedtoward each 0 its ends.

2. Tire-building apparatus comprising a support for a pneumatic-tirestructure and,

3. Tire-building apparatus as defined in claim 2 in which thepresser-roll device is tapered from its middle toward both ends.

4. Tire-building apparatus comprising a support for a pneumatic-tirestructure and, cooperatively associated therewith, a presserroll devicecomprising a plurality of coaxial, resilient-surfaced discs individuallyjournaled upon a common spindle so as to admit of different angularspeeds of the respective discs.

5. Tire-building apparatus as defined in claim 4 in which the discs areof various diameters and engage the tire-structure in progression byreason of the yielding character of their surfaces as the device ismoved toward said tire-structure.

6. Tire-building apparatus comprising a support for a penumatic-tirestructure and cooperatively associated therewith, a presserroll devicecomprising a sectional roll-structure each section of which comprises aworkengaging ring resiliently mounted upon an axial hub which isjournale'd upon a. nonrotatable spindle.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of June,.1928.

. HARRY E.

